


Please Don't Go Where I Can't Follow

by AppleTeeth



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleTeeth/pseuds/AppleTeeth
Summary: A short fic about Rick Jones and his life following Bruce around the world and making sure he's okay.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Rick Jones
Kudos: 2





	Please Don't Go Where I Can't Follow

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this so so long ago and as I keep meaning to turn this into something longer, and failing, I thought I'd post what I've done. 
> 
> In my head cannon, Rick was 19-20 at the time of the accident and Bruce was 25. I like the idea of Rick being incredibly smart and innovative but he didn't get the same breaks Bruce did, at least in the sense of getting to go to college. 
> 
> The picture Rick takes is based on a pic I found of Mark Ruffalo sitting on the bumper of a car, but for the life of me I can't find it now.

During the first few years, Rick would always stay one step behind the Hulk. A kid with no family, no home and no ties other than a group of fellow petty criminals meant he could hightail it out of his hometown and follow a monster to all ends of the earth. During this time, Bruce will keep telling him to go home, to quit trying to help and go do something important with his life. If Bruce saved him, he would say, then Rick had to return the favour and go live.

Of course, Rick always stayed. At first he told himself he was curious and how often did you get to have adventures with the strongest being on the planet? But then he'd find himself propping Bruce up in the shower of a crummy motel outside a destroyed town with the population searching for the monster that did it, Bruce too tired and too weak to argue as Rick washes off the blood, and Rick would know it's so much bigger than a kid looking for fun.

Rick is driving his beat-up family saloon through the desert. Technically only his as of a few hours ago, but his all the same. It was parked in an alleyway three towns back and looked like it hadn't been touched in weeks. He tells himself nobody will miss it. Bruce constantly tells him to stop stealing, and whilst he doesn't exactly hold the moral high-ground when he is the cause of a lot more misery than a few missing vehicles, Rick now only tries to steal the crummy ones. The engine keeps cutting out and he spends most of the journey coasting as he tries to restart the motor with varying levels of success. They just need to get out of the desert and into the next town they can find. From then on, he can find other means of travel.

He heads towards the rising dust-cloud and knows when he gets there Bruce will have replaced the monster. The Hulk always heads for deserts when he's changing back. It's a deal he made with Rick to make sure Ross or any other interested parties have trouble catching Puny Banner. Rick has made a lot of deals with Hulk. The fact that he's probably the only person on the planet Hulk will listen to should make him proud, but if he's honest it just makes him sad that nobody else will try.

Rick has a set of clothes on the passenger's seat - just anything he can cobble together out of someone else's laundry he steals right out of their washer at the local launderette. Buying clothes every time got too expensive - even thrift stores are too much for their budget. Bruce turned a blind eye a long time ago, as he does at the paper bag of fast food Rick always presents to him. Rick is the champion of dine and dash.

The car lets out a long, pitiful whine as Rick finally puts it in park on the side of the road behind a large shrub. He picks up the clothes and food and walks towards his charge, poking a toe into the side of the seemingly sleeping man.

"C'mon, before it gets cold."

Bruce rolls over onto his front and puts an arm over his forehead so he can look up without the sun blinding him. He's completely naked but he has no inclination to cover up. Rick has seen it all a hundred times over. The dust has made red stains down Bruce's body and he attempts to brush it off as he slowly gets up onto his knees.

"Where are we?"

"We crossed into Idaho a while back. We're on Skull Creek Road, according to the Banner-signal."

Years ago, Bruce managed to cobble together a non-traceable, solar-panelled tablet with access to every satellite on the planet for any help they would need in their travels. It's been updated regularly ever since, and now that Rick has learnt the finer skills in remote computer hacking, he takes it upon himself to work out their next steps after the Hulk has made himself known.

"Any damage?"

"None. You destroyed the bad-guy monster then got the fuck away before the army showed up."

"Good."

Rick tosses him his new set of clothes. They'll find shoes later but for now Bruce will just want to eat and sleep. Rick sits down and they share the burgers and fries, Rick moaning he forgot to steal ketchup and Bruce not caring that it's cold and that in a perfect world, he wouldn't touch this crap.

Their attention then turns to the car that doesn't want to start up. Bruce is dead on his feet but takes a look under the hood all the same. They studied a bunch of auto-repair manuals a while back and they both know how to fix pretty much any vehicle they happen to come across. 

There's something wrong with the ignition and Rick pulls out the toolkit he keeps in his backpack, along with everything else that might come in handy. Water purifier. Credit cards in phony names. Sewing kit. Freeze-dried food packets. He often jokes that if someone dumped him in the middle of a jungle, he'd have no problem starting a new life there.

Bruce sits on the hood with his feet up on the bumper as Rick tries to clean out the components. He looks dirty and exhausted but Rick can't stop looking up at him. He looks a lot different than the first time Rick met him - a pompous scientist scorning a stupid kid for running out in the middle of a test field. With all that has happened he should look older but it's the opposite. His hair is long and he has the physique of a scrawny teenager.

He also laughs a lot more than he used to.

"Stay right there," Rick instructs as he grabs his camera from the backseat. Bruce keeps on telling him they're not on vacation and they don't need mementos of their shitty time together but Rick takes pictures all the same. There's nothing that could be used against them - at the most it looks like two guys touring the stranger parts of the world together.

"Smile," Rick says.

"I look terrible."

"I like it when you look all scruffy," Rick informs him and takes the shot. Bruce only smiles when Rick puts his camera down and joins him, both of them looking out towards the road.

"Do you want to sleep? I don't mind working on the car some more," Rick says.

Bruce shrugs. He picks up Rick's hand and just holds it. He leans to one side and rests his head on Rick's shoulder.

"You need to sleep, doc."

"'Don't like leaving you on your own when our vehicle isn't running."

"I'll be fine. I'll throw the carburettor at your head if we're in danger."

"Then I'll be inclined to throw you into the next state."

"It'll give me a head's start."

Bruce snorts and laughs softly. Rick grins and presses a kiss to the tired man's temple. They hold hands for a little longer, just enjoying the silence in-between the chaos, before Bruce goes to sleep on the back seat and Rick gets back to work on their getaway vehicle.


End file.
